Scott G. Canfield

TL;DR: An isogenic multicellular BBB model was successfully demonstrated employing BMECs, astrocytes, and neurons from the same donor iPSC source, and it is anticipated that such an isogenic facsimile of the human BBB could have applications in furthering understanding the cellular interplay of the neurovascular unit in both healthy and diseased humans.

TL;DR: This work demonstrates a facile, chemically defined method to differentiate hPSCs to BMECs in a developmentally relevant progression via small-molecule activation of key signaling pathways, and reports a defined method for differentiating human pluripotent stem cells to brain endothelial cells.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that ketamine increases NSC proliferation and causes neuronal apoptosis, mitochondria are involved in ketamine-induced neuronal toxicity, and the stem cell–associated neurogenesis system may provide a simple and promising in vitro model for rapidly screening anesthetic neurotoxicity and studying the underlying mechanisms as well as prevention strategies to avoid this toxic effect.

TL;DR: This study generated neural crest stem cells (NCSCs), the embryonic precursor to forebrain pericytes, from hPSCs and subsequently differentiated NCSCs to brain pericyte–like cells, which closely resembled primary human brainpericytes and self-assembled with endothelial cells.

TL;DR: This work has demonstrated that hPSC-derived BMECs exhibit robust structural and functional characteristics reminiscent of the in vivo BBB, which is a potential tool to screen pharmaceutical libraries for CNS penetration as well as for BBB modulators in development and disease.